Referendum question on solar farms will be on April 2 election ballot

Wednesday

Feb 6, 2013 at 12:08 PM

By ROBERT BARBOZA

By ROBERT BARBOZA

Editor

DARTMOUTH — The Select Board approved the language of a public referendum question on siting solar energy farms in residential districts for the ballot of the April 2 annual town election at their Jan. 28 meeting.

The non-binding ballot questions asks voters if the town should amend its zoning bylaws to authorize the Planning Board to grant special permits for the construction and operation of solar energy facilities in residential zones under specific conditions.

The specific conditions include "the use of sufficient setbacks and landscape screening to prevent abuttors from viewing or hearing operations of energy-producing solar farms."

A yes vote would indicate support for allowing solar facilities through the special permit process, as was done with permitted farms off Reed Road, at the town landfill, and in industrial parks in Dartmouth.

The process represents a compromise put forth by the Planning Board between the "as right" siting allowed under state provisions and "an outright ban on solar farms in residential zones," according to the approved language for the referendum questions.

A no vote would indicate support for the current town bylaw, which limits solar energy facilities to commercial and industrial zones in town. The bylaw does permit such facilities in residential zones with a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals, however.

Using a ballot question to test public opinion was suggested at a joint meeting of the Select Board and Planning Board earlier this winter, following discussions of whether or not to attempt further revisions of the existing bylaw at a future Town Meeting.

"I thought it was important to ask voters their opinion based upon where the discussion was left at the Town Meeting this fall," Selectman Michael Watson said in an e-mail.

The compromise offered at that Town Meeting "received the support of 60% of Town Meeting members, a clear majority, yet not the two thirds required for zoning changes. That should be the point of discussion for voters," he suggested, saying he remains "open to compromise on the particulars" of a revised bylaw that could be acceptable to more Town Meeting members.

"I am committed to more of our community weighing in on this important issue," said Select Board Chair Lara Stone, also feeling the issue is too important to be left unresolved for the long term.

Debate over a new bylaw regulating the siting solar facilities in residential zones has been ongoing since the October Town Meeting, where a majority of meeting members voted in favor of some revisions to the existing bylaw.

The quiet controversy over the issue dates back to last April, when a citizen petition prompted a special Town Meeting to act on a potential change to the large-scale solar energy farm bylaw.

The bylaw at the time mirrored state policy, allowing solar farms of any size "as right" in all zoning districts in town without provisions for public hearings or a site plan review by any town board.

The citizen-sponsored amendment proposed to prohibit commercial-scale solar farms in all residential districts. It passed at the April 24 Special Town Meeting on a 146-52 vote.

The petition had been initiated by residents of the Hixville neighborhood upset by ConEdison Development's unannounced land-clearing activity at a 23-acre site off Hixville Road where more than 9,000 solar panels were installed.

When construction started, residents asked the Select Board and other town officials to try to halt the project until Town Meeting could consider changes to the bylaw, only to be told that the construction couldn't be stopped because of the "as right" provisions in the existing bylaw.